61st Independence Day - August 15, 2008

Today, on August 15, 2008, we are commemorating our 61st Independence Day. Here, where I stay, Regency Park 2 at Gurgaon, the residents welfare association made the day more memorable by the fabulous arrangements at our community park, to celebrate the occasion. Family and friends made it to the occasion. It started with flag hoisting ceremony followed by the National Anthem. We hardly see occasions where we get to sing our National Anthem these days. It is such a nice feeling to sing Jana Gana Mana. Then came the spirited performance by kids and fancy dress by toddlers, looking really cute as Gandhi Ji, Subhash Chandra Bose and Bal Gangadhar Tilak. There was a quiz related to events leading to our Independence and to my surprise no questions went unanswered, which is truly amazing. You want to try ? Some of the questions were - When was Battle of Buxar held ? Which event led to the end of Non Co-operation movement ? Which year was Dandi March held ? Who accompanied Bhagat Singh in the assembly bombing and so on? Finally, the last leg was games for kids and adults - run for luck and musical chairs respectively. I will try to post some photographs of the event. Family and friends made it to the occasion making the celebrations sweeter.

Well we had some funny moments as well. While a gentlemen was making a speech that Swami Vivekananda said it in 1897 that it will take 50 years for India to get Freedom and another 50 years to be on growth path, power went off, and we felt saying another 50 years to be self-sufficient in power and stable supply. Another gentlement was shouting 'जब तक सूरज चाँद रहेगा, तब तक भारत तेरा नाम रहेगा' and a friend shouted 'Belvedre Park पानी में डूबा रहेगा'. A downpour of an hour or so had led to waist deep water logging, potholed roads leading to chaos, jams and choked roads, throughout the city. For some it took 2.5 hrs to cover a 5-7 Km distance. Isn't it shameful ? All this tells us that its miles to go, before we sleep. I hope when we celebrate the 100th Independence Day, we may be done from these embarassments.

I am not that pessimistic either and certainly don't want to end in that note. We have made susbstantial progress on all the fronts, wealth has grown ( though it could have been a bit more inclusive but still better that not having it at all ), barring few states most of exploited the changed economic scenario and liberalised policies to the advantage of their people, we are a nuclear nation, we have successfully sent rockets in space, we are slowly getting recognised as economic powerhouse, we have become donors and its upto us how we make most of this momentum. Long Live India and Long Live Indians.